Jose Maria Aznar

Jose Maria Aznar (25 February 1953-) was Prime Minister of Spain from 4 May 1996 to 16 April 2004, succeeding Felipe Gonzalez and preceding Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. He was a member of the conservative People's Party of Spain, and he oversaw Spain's entry into the Iraq War.

Biography
Jose Maria Aznar was born in Madrid, Spain on 25 February 1953, the grandson of a Basque Falange supporter and propagandist and the son of a Falangist propaganda broadcaster. He graduated from the Complutense University of Madrid in 1975, and he was a member of a Falangist student union. After the death of Francisco Franco and the restoration of democracy, he became a member of the conservative Alianza Popular party. In 1982, he was elected to Parliament as a representative from Avila, and he served in the Congress of Deputies from 1982 to 1987 and from 1989 to 2004; from 1987 to 1989, he served as President of the Junta of Castile and Leon. Aznar led his party (and therefore the opposition) from 1989 to 1996; in 1995, he survived an assassination attempt from ETA because he was travelling in an armored car. In 1996, he was elected Prime Minister of Spain, and he privatized numerous industries in the country. In 2003, he led Spain into the Iraq War as an ally of the United States, committing 200 troops to the war in Iraq. After the 2004 Madrid train bombings, he lost the general election to the anti-war Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), and Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero took over the premiership.